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One-on-one interview, Robert Walker, Alexander James Interior Design

Posted 19 January 2017 by Keith Osborne

We speak to the founder of one of the UK's best-known interior design companies, responsible for high-end show homes at developments across the country...

This week, we take a different angle to our exclusive interview by speaking to the founder of one of the UK’s premier show home interior design companies, Alexander James Interior Design, which works with a host of the country’s best housebuilders and is one of the major sponsors of the WhatHouse? Awards, Britain’s most prestigious new homes awards event. 

Hi Robert, please tell us a little about yourself and Alexander James Interiors.

I launched Alexander James from my dining room table 21 years ago. After 11 years of providing show house design services and flooring, we diversified into the private client sector in 2006. We now provide interior design and architectural services to property developers, private clients, and hotel groups throughout the world.

Our diverse team speaks many languages, including Italian, Russian and Chinese, enabling us to serve clients and procure goods and services across the globe. Our philosophy embraces a fully comprehensive service with experienced in-house stylists, installers, florists and curtain fitters. Collaborating with our sister companies enable us to provide a truly all-inclusive service including home automation, kitchens and fitted furniture.

What are the most significant interiors trends that house-hunters can expect to see in show homes this year?

There will be a much less stark division between predominant styles. We have seen for years a divide between rustic charm and contemporary sleek. I expect that there will be more integration of textures throughout schemes, softening out, as it were. We really enjoy creating schemes that feel homely by working in textures and hand finishes but retain modernity.

 You work with a spectrum of large and small developers - are there any differences to what you do in a show home, depending on the size of your client?

There are sometimes different degrees of consultation required, but the principles remain the same. Many long-term clients simply trust us based on our experience and judgement. Larger developers are well versed and invest a great deal in studying the demographics of their buyers, consequently the brief is clear and precise, whereas the smaller developer will often rely on us to guide them based on our expertise and experience. Many of our sales team come from a property background and have worked for companies such as Knight Frank, Savills and McLaren Property and are able to advise on the direction of the project if required.

 What's the secret of a successful show home?

 A successful show home should appear aspirational and homely to prospective purchasers. We consider the finishing touches to be crucial in creating the perfect home and lifestyle.

From a developer’s standpoint it’s a case of delivering value as a marketing device, on another level we have case studies where investment in the interiors of developments have proved to considerably increase the GDV [gross development value].

Has technology and the increase in online house-hunting affected the importance of show homes in the buying process?

Not in my opinion. Buying a home is such an important and complex process, that you can’t ever replicate the tangible element of physically being in the property. Using CGIs helps us to exhibit our ideas to our clients but the end product is still as important as ever. Homebuyers demand the experience of feeling what a property could be like to live in, and a dressed property aids the developer in demonstrating the scale and functionality of the property.

When I was living in the USA the realtors would put the coffee pot on, or cookies in the oven to achieve this, and the show house is an evolution of this, on an emotional and sensory level the internet can’t compete with the reality.

What new show homes from you are due to launch soon?

We are shortly launching at Berkeley Group’s landmark development at 375 Kensington High Street [for St Edward], The Pathe Building in Soho for Legal and General, Hatton Wall for BBRE, Knowle Hill Park for Millgate Homes, Kirkby Homes in Hampshire and an exciting development in Battersea for Peabody. In March we are launching a triplex on Covent Garden with Stonehaven.

Do you often get extra projects from buyers who have been impressed by the show home they've seen on the development they've purchased on?

Yes, on one Millgate development of five luxury detached houses we were commissioned for the interiors on every unit. It’s not unusual for a buyer to fall in love with our show houses!

What sort of budget would you say is reasonable to furnish a brand new buy-to-let apartment/house?

It really varies on the expected return on investment and on the particular property. You could furnish a property for £5,000 but that won’t fit the bill in central London, for example. Tenants paying £15,000pcm in rent expect better in the luxury private rental sector. We provide turnkey package options for Lodha at Lincoln Square, WC2 that range from £17,000 for a studio to £37,000 for a three-bedroom property. These schemes are optimised for the development, the specific area’s rental market and the expectation of style and quality from the end user.

The promise of thousands more new homes every year must sound very promising for new business - how do you see the UK new homes market developing this year and beyond?

Because we work at the higher end of the market we are unlikely to be see an increase in business from many of the new homes initiatives. However, the introduction of new homeowners at any level of the market has got to be beneficial for the industry as a whole.


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